"Top 5 Reasons to Game the ECW" Topic

Why do you game the English Civil War?

Because I have figures for it?

because it can be quite colourful

Fluid and brutal.

I find the period interesting, I've visited a lot of the battlefields and the figures can be colourful. Great flags, characters and stories as well.

If you can't stomach the TYW. ECW is much better documented and sourced.

Big, floppy hats?

First miniature game I ever played was a 28mm ECW game. Beautiful figures on a spectacular table. There's always fond memories about the first time…

As my English friend once told me"when playing ACW it doesn't matter the side played because either way I get to shoot Americans." So I return the favor and either side I get to kill Englishmen.

Who wouldn't want to be Fairfax, Waller, Hopton, Rupert, or Cromwell?

I've tried really hard to get into ECW, but just can't. Perhaps it's the whole pike and shot era, doesn't get my juices flowing.

Pikes, shot, and a poodle.

My friend wanted to game it.

We got a good deal on a bunch of Warlord figures.

I like the rules we use (Victory without Quarter).

Opportunity to study/game a new (to me) period of history.

I'm related to Cromwell.

- Battles are manageable size
- Plenty of accessible sources & inspiration
- But not much 'fiddly' detail survives so painting right bobble colour etc is no issue
- For the UK gamer you're never more than 10 miles away from the site of a battle, siege or skirmish
- Great characters

1) There's Cavaliers
2) There's lace
3) It's the beginning of the modern age
4) For a large part of it, you can use the same figures for both sides
5) Because I have Royalist tattooed on the back of my neck

- Very well documented
- Accessible battlefields
- Interesting personalities
- Balanced scenarios
- Massively important consequences
- Exciting mix of troop types
- Colourful armies

would have to think a lot to hone those mdown to just five

Phil
It's all about the History

It's a 'warre without an enemie'. So don't care which side I'm on.
Bucolic Carnage across the English countryside.
Amateurs, consultants, religious nutjobs, reactionarie, revolutionaries – something many on both sides of the Atlantic are eerily familiar with as the conflict was mirrored here (the Americas) and in the Caribbean.
Just set up a game of 'Victory Without Quarter' last night, how appropos the question for me.

+1 StoneMtnMinis

In my case, and in no particular order:

1) I have a strong gaming preference for English/British wars
2) The ECW period has considerable romantic appeal, encompassing a plethora of flamboyant (and others less so) characters, a clash between political and religious systems each convinced of the rightness of their cause, a doomed monarch, amateur soldiers acting out of conscience even at the cost of family division, growing professionalism and evolving tactics as the conflict wore on, Cornish pikemen, Northern horse, Ironsides etc
3) There is considerable variety in the type and scale of historic actions, with even the largest battles between field armies playable on the table and the alternative of gaming lower level garrison warfare within counties
4) Visual appeal. Games can look stunning on the table with infantry coats in different colours, colourful flags, bristling pikes, masses of cavalry, dragoons lining hedges etc. My collection uses Peter Pig figures, which have lots of character and have been brought to life by Fat Wally's excellent work on painting and modding
5) The games are unpredictable: artillery doesn't dominate the battlefield, while horse can be a battle winner but is unreliable and may disappear over the horizon never to be seen again and veteran foot is a precious resource not to be squandered unnecessarily.

So I return the favor and either side I get to kill Englishmen.

+1 StoneMtnMinis

Who said the special relationship is dead? With friends like that…..

English killing English, Scots killing Scots, Irish killing Irish, Irish killing Scots, Irish killing English, English killing Irish, English killing Scots, Scots killing Irish and Scots killing English.

Briton in 17th century is the foundation of Great Briton.

I find the conflict to be interesting because it is the bedrock of modern democracy. The struggle in the 1640s and 50s and throughout the 17th century was really one that gave birth to our concept of freedom and democratic rule. Some of the texts produced in response to it are still fundamental in our understanding of government today.

The ideas expressed by the combatants were well before their time and really show the influence of classical philosophy and history on the thinking of the period.

Someone suggested the ECW as a project and it just escalated from there. Even joined the Sealed Knot in the mid 70's to get an idea -admittedly sanitised- of what went on. Like the colour, plethora of flags to paint for each unit and for all the other reasons posted above. Unfortunately have yet to find a decent set of rules, especially in 6mm.

- Interesting battles that are well documented
- Reasonable sized battles, both large and small
- Colourful commanders
- Fascinating politics
- Variety of uniforms and units creating interest on the table.

Just about to start playing this period hence the massive painting spree

why…

1. Interested in this period of British history
2. Always wanted a big 28mm Army (not Naps)
3. Had a mate with a similar idea – I ve done Parliament hes done Royalist)
4. Plenty of battles to refight
5. Lots of rules, figures etc available at great prices

For myself there were a few reasons which are stated above but one reason which was not stated above was that the Movie Cromwell partly got me into The English Civil War.

Captain Gideon,

Same here! 'Cromwell' is by far the most inspiring of the handful of ECW films made. It had to telescope and/or change certain elements of history to cover the whole civil war but I think it did an excellent job.

"Cromwell" now you know better what stops you throwing thing at the TV !

I have not see it in years, among the meany things that grind my gears.
Cromwell hanging around and pontificating at the "birds have flown speech".
The house of Commons and the house of Lord in the same chamber.
The royalist all dressed in red and the New Model Army dressed in black,(where would the British army be with 2 centurys of being dressed in black).
The army sizes for Naseby are a joke.
I could go on and on.

To find an Irish catholic to play Cromwell the pay must have been good.
The only saving grace in the film was Alec Guinness as King Charles.

Well, I did say I thought 'Cromwell' was the most inspiring ECW film, not the most accurate…!

As far as I know it is the only big budget film covering the Civil War where you get to see impressively large pike and shot armies arrayed for battle irrespective of the accuracy of their uniforms. On that subject I doubt that the sort of specialist research we are used to these days on the period had found its way into the mainstream in 1970.

Given that the film tried to cover the whole period up until Cromwell became Lord Protector it was never going to be possible to include even a small number of the many colourful personalities involved-far better to concentrate on the two of the most important protagonists even if it meant giving them other people's lines.

I feel that the film captures the spirit of the period, in particular that of Cromwell and Charles I. Cromwell's piety and his desire for political reform and the King's arrogance and duplicity come across well. Even if the film hadn't been cut from three hours to one hour and forty minutes it could never have adequately dealt with the Bishop's Wars and the three Civil Wars!!

I hate both sides of that conflict. But I sure like playing it. I think it is the combination of pikes with matchlocks.

Irish Confederates — there is a good side to play against the forces of evil!

It started because I am an ECW re-enactors. The reasons I have continued are:

1 It happened where I live.
2.The troop types are limited (Pike, musket, dragons, horse, artillery)
3. Tactics seem simple but have interesting nuances as you start to research the period
4. Fairly easy to paint as uniforms didn't really exist as such.
5. Good primary research material in my native language is readily available.

4. Fairly easy to paint as uniforms didn't really exist as such.

Apart from not being entirely true, wouldn't that actually make the figures harder to paint, what with every figure in a unit wearing his own clothes?

Apart from not being entirely true, wouldn't that actually make the figures harder to paint, what with every figure in a unit wearing his own clothes?

Perhaps he means in comparison to Napoleonics or WW2 where there is less room for inaccuracy therefore more flexibility=easier.

Games always lead to interesting debates about whether the British royal family should still be subsidized by the British taxpayer.

Actually they aren't. The income from the Crown Estates is paid over in its entirety to the Government which then gives a proportion back to maintain buildings, pay staff, etc – what used to be called the Civil List. Effectively, the Royals pay 100% tax and get typically (it's a complicated formula) 12-15% back.